Croatia’s Mateo Kovacic during the press conference, yesterday. REUTERS
Doha: Croatia and Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic has urged the younger players to soak in as much knowledge as possible as the veterans near retirement from the national team.
Croatia’s golden generation are entering or in the twilight of their careers, having taken the country to the top of world football in the last eight years.
Speaking to reporters ahead of their third-place match against Morocco, Kovacic, 28, said, “I think the older players showed their importance for the team again here at the World Cup. I hope they will also be around in the future -- the longer, the better.”
“As the coach (Zlatko Dalic) said, the younger players, and I am not exactly young myself right now, have the opportunity, honour, and privilege to learn from the older ones as long as they are here. I hope that is exactly what they are doing. I hope they are soaking up as much as they can every day because that is important.”
With the likes of Luka Modric (37), Ivan Perisic (33) and Dejan Lovren (33) at the back end of their careers, the onus falls on Kovacic, who has seen his stock in the national team rise in recent years. Participating in his third World Cup for Croatia, the Chelsea man has been a stalwart in midfield, breaking play and driving the attack.
His versatility means he can operate anywhere in the midfield, either in attack, central or as a deep-lying midfielder. Kovacic can get the ball deep and drive forward, a trait he has displayed constantly in Qatar. He has started all six of the Balkan nation’s games in this tournament, better than four years ago when he started only once.
“I had a different role in 2018. I learned a lot during that time,” Kovacic said.
“I had the honour to see Luka, Raketa Manja and all these players play from up close. How they experience this, and how they fight and prepare for a World Cup. During those four years, I thought about how I would be like them someday, be a team captain, and achieve results with Croatia. I think I came prepared for this World Cup.
“I am thankful to them for teaching me how to fight for Croatia during a World Cup and how to represent our country,” the former Real Madrid man added.
Meanwhile, as Croatia prepare to take on Morocco tonight, Kovacic said despite the 2018 finalists missing out on the final this year, losing to Argentina in the semis, they have shown they belong among football’s elites. He added that the players will do everything in “our power to bring back the bronze medal home.”
On midfield battle with Sofyan Amrabat and Azzedine Ounahi, Kovacic said, “I think that he has shown throughout this tournament that he is an excellent player, something we already knew before. This is a terrifying tournament; there are phenomenal players. I know and play with (Hakim) Ziyech, who is phenomenal. The team has shown they have quality, and I think that also distinguishes them during this World Cup.”
Croatia and Morocco had met earlier in the group stage and played out a goalless draw.
